Aston Villa Women

[useless]

Hampton was brilliant for us, seriously good, she was better than van Domselaar has been and I don't think it's close, we've missed her big time. And that's not meant to be any kind of slight on van Domselaar, she's obviously a top goalkeeper, and is improving since she first joined, and I hope we can keep her, as will get even better just Hampton for us was immense

Edited March 12 by useless
Edit:I should say I'm not saying I think Hampton is the better keepe per se, this seaso has been more of a settling in period of van Domselaar, and even then she's been very good, and will get better and better

[Recircle]

Fair enough. You call it on what you've seen, and you'll have seen a lot more of Hampton than I have, which I credit. By any measure Van Domselaar is an accomplished keeper, and has been able to prove her mettle in higher stakes games than Hampton (Hannah may have a chance to before long, starting and doing well for Chelsea and with Earps a bit off the boil). She was outstanding for the Netherlands against France in the Euro 2022 QF, making three or four notable saves in open play and getting across to almost tip out the penalty that Perisset scored in extra time to take France through to the semis. Got the 'Player of the Match' award for her performance in last year's World Cup R16 match as well. If she goes it will be Hampton leaving revisited, in impact/morale-sapping terms.

[useless]

van Domselaar could stay, she turned down PSG and Real Madrid to sign for us, presumably because she got more of a guarantee of first team football here, so she's not happy to sit on the bench, and based on her Villa form I'm not sure she would go straight into the Arsenal team, I've also wondered if this link is part of Arsenal's play to try and sign Earps

If she leaves I will be less worried by that and more how we replace her, same for any of our players, as that seems to be the way in women's football, even for the top teams, they all lose important players every summer, shorter contracts, low wages and transfer fees, seemingly make it easier for players to move around in the women's game

I listend to an interview with Ward and she said WSL clubs need to start looking at more players from the lower leagues, I wouldn't be surprised if that's something we do, not as our main signings, but as squad options, I don't think it would be a bad idea to re-sign Isobel Goodwin, and send Georgia Mullett out on loan next season for example, and there are lots of talents from the Championship in the England U23 and U19 squads we could look at, Kirsty Maclean at Rangers with McLoughlin looks an interesting prospect

I think Roebuck might be unlikely, it was rumoured she was going to Barcelona, maybe Sandy MacIver could be an option, one of Leitzig or Kop could be an option too, but as above I wouldn't rule out van Domselaar staying at least one more season, she said in recent interview she was very happy with us, she seems to be mentoring Sophia Poor as well, who is a top young keeper in her own right and they seem to get on well too

Edited March 12 by useless

[useless]

Emma Sanders reporting that Arsenal tried to sign van Domselaar in January, she also says we fought off competition from several other WSL clubs including Arsenal to sign her in the first place, so their interest definitely seems to be real, and not just a negotiating tactic to get Earps. Only real positive that can be taken from that is that she turned them down for us in the first place, and presumably must have done so in January if she has a release clause, but obviously the summer might be different

If she leaves, and with all the players coming towards the end ot their contract our squad will look like

Sophia Poor (presuming she signs a professional deal with us), Mayling, Patten, Parker, Maritz, Pacheco, Dali, Lehmann, Daly, Gregory, Salmon, Mullett, Hanson, Leon

That's just fourteen players, we would arguably need ten new signings, if we can keep McLoughlin, and maybe keep a few that are coming to the end of their contracts, that number can be brought down to seven or eight, but there's been a lot of talk about us needing to bring down the age of our squad, and a lot of the players coming to end of their contract are older, and players of the pedigree of Nobbs and Staniforth might not stay unless we offered them at least another two years, Leat, and McLoughlin are the younger ones, Leat stayig might depend on whether we think Poor is ready to be No.2 or not, it was a bit of a coup to get her in the first place, so I think she will have been promised a quick pathway into our first team, or we could go into next season with Leat as No.1, which actually wouldn't concern me, although goes without saying the ideal scenario is to keep van Domselaar

[bobzy]

17 hours ago, villaajax said:

We need real investment. For the price of one decent male bench warmer, you could buy an entire squad of female players. I'm not saying that to belittle women's football, but that's the truth.

The fact we've lost Hampton to Chelsea's bench and no doubt Daphne to Arsenal's bench, I think shows that maybe money could help retain players here, it's not all about game time.

This feels like such a good point.

Is FFP in place in the Women's game?  Surely there's huge potential here (the Women's game is getting more and more popular) to just pump some money into AVWFC and get a really competitive squad together.  The amount involved would be miniscule compared to the Men's game but could make a big difference in turning us into a competitive side in Women's football.  Our owners could comfortably afford to just "throw away" £5m.  Seems like a real opportunity - I assume there's some sort of restriction on this happening?

[Recircle]

3 hours ago, useless said:

Emma Sanders reporting that Arsenal tried to sign van Domselaar in January [...] Only real positive that can be taken from that is that she turned them down for us in the first place, and presumably must have done so in January if she has a release clause, but obviously the summer might be different

It would've looked like indecent haste if she'd gone in January, and would've reflected badly on Villa as well as herself (personal ambition is one thing, but it's not a good look if that comes to resemble something like ruthless opportunism). Also she'd have been domestically cup-tied, and Arsenal were eliminated early in the Champions League (Zinsberger couldn't do in a qualifier penalty shoot-out what Van Domselaar could in a League Cup quarter-final one). You say in an earlier post Van Domselaar's form would prevent her from straight away becoming Arsenal’s first choice, but she’s clearly had to play behind weaker defensive players than Zinsberger, has a more impressive international reputation and seems more self-possessed (Zinsberger can look and act flustered at times); DVD would back herself to make it happen quickly (if Arsenal truly want her, she could surely make some guaranteed early starts part of the deal). She's gone, I think (if not Arsenal, then to Utd as Earps' replacement, or maybe to Barca, who will have noted that she was approached by and turned down Real Madrid). As a replacement, I’d be looking at Leitzig (although it would look like a sideways move or less to her at present) or at promising goalies playing in the Frauen Bundesliga. 

 

[useless]

We will just have to wait and see what happens, if she stays it will be fantastic news, but if she does leave I'm not too worried about it at least in of itself, as I've said players in the women's game move around a lot more freely, every summer even the top teams lose some of their better ones, Man City already set to lose a bunch of theirs this summer if the rumours are true, when van Domselaar signed I wasn't expecting her to be here long-term

What's more important is how we replace her, if she does leave, not just her but Blindkilde too, and any other players that leave, because we've got some who've been very good for us and are first teamers coming to the end of their contracts, and they will need replacing, which won't be easy, especially if we want to bring down the age of the squad and maintain the quality or even raise it

The summer will tell us a lot, I'm not expecting us to build a top four quality team, but should be looking to build a squad capable of continuing the trajectory we've been on, I know this season is a disappointment, but overall the women's team has been progressing, so we need to continue that, establish ourselves as a top six team and then look to develop further, hopefully the club isn't just happy for us to be in the WSL and to do just enough to make sure we're not relegated, which doesn't take much as the newly promoted teams are usually so poor

[Recircle]

 

28 minutes ago, useless said:

 if she does leave I'm not too worried about it at least in of itself, as I've said players in the women's game move around a lot more freely

It's not the 'in and of itself' bit that's going to have the impact; acknowledging that the move would reflect a current pattern is one thing, being concerned about the specific effects it will have on the team you follow is another. But yes, you've got to try and stay positive.

[useless]

Just seen we're the Saturday game in the WSL, we've got a good record away to Everton I think, and will be good to have Daly and Leon back, it's pretty much a must win if we want to keep our season alive, if it gets to the point where top six is out of the quesiton I hope we start giving a few of the younger players more of a chance, I notice a few more of them training with the first team recently, would be great to see Mullett get her first senior goal before the end of the season

[useless]

I wonder if we're gonna use some of these teams we're buying shares in and forming partnerships with to help the women's team, it was said we should look at some Japanese players, maybe our link up with Vissel Kobe could help with that, that's if they have women's side.

 

[Recircle]

4 hours ago, useless said:

Just seen we're the Saturday game in the WSL, we've got a good record away to Everton I think, and will be good to have Daly and Leon back [...]

Daly will still be out, won't she? Or did Villa appeal and get the length of her ban reduced?

[useless]

She's already served three games, she missed Brighton, Spurs, and Liverpool, the suspension included cup games, or at least as far as I'm aware.

[Recircle]

I thought it might solely apply to WSL games. Some good news, if it didn't. (edit: you're right - the domestic cup competitions are FA affiliated, so it's logical for the ban to apply across competitions.)

Edited March 13 by Recircle

[Recircle]

2 hours ago, useless said:

I wonder if we're gonna use some of these teams we're buying shares in and forming partnerships with to help the women's team, it was said we should look at some Japanese players, maybe our link up with Vissel Kobe could help with that, that's if they have women's side.

 

Interesting. I touched on this possibility upthread. Villa could certainly benefit from a lock-picker/link player playing across the middle, and Japan seems notably to produce adept playmaker midfielders and flank players - the ones that have come into the WSL have nearly all made a mark. They really think on the ball, weighing up options, and can judge pass weight well. They're also very team oriented, commit to the role they've been tasked with, and work very hard off the ball (West Ham's striker Ueki does this almost to a fault, being a striker in this case who presses hard from the front and drops deep to help out); they're not greedy players (some following City have been lamenting that Hasegawa doesn't have enough pops at goal when she pushes up to support since she's got a fine eye for a shot, but she's most reluctant to waste the ball on speculative efforts; she'd rather keep the pressure on and work the percentages chance). As a leftie I tend to take extra note of those playing on the left, and Japan has got a few standouts, none of whom yet play in Europe, and of whom Jun Endo is the pick (although she's currently recovering from an ACL injury and will be out for some months). There's the versatile Hina Sugita, who tends to play more defensively for the national side and more as a roving link midfielder for her club (Portland Thorns, the club Adriana Leon had a loan spell with), and who is capable of hitting the odd stinging shot. There's also Hikaru Kitagawa, who did really well coming in for Endo ahead of Sugita in Japan's recent Olympic qualifier against North Korea. She was taking free kicks ahead of Hasegawa, and in open play was swinging in testing long-range crosses that were consistently well-shaped and weighted. Obviously I'm not saying it's possible to acquire any of those listed, but they indicate a wellspring, and there will be others.

Edited March 13 by Recircle
for clarity

[Recircle]

3 hours ago, useless said:

[M]aybe our link up with Vissel Kobe could help with that, that's if they have women's side.

The WE League team based in the same city is INAC Kobe Leonessa (the team Kitagawa plays for). They use the same home ground as Vissel Kobe. How meaningfully the two clubs connect if at all, beyond sharing a common location and the same stadium, I couldn't say.

[MattVillaPortsmouth]

On 12/03/2024 at 12:59, bobzy said:

This feels like such a good point.

Is FFP in place in the Women's game?  Surely there's huge potential here (the Women's game is getting more and more popular) to just pump some money into AVWFC and get a really competitive squad together.  The amount involved would be miniscule compared to the Men's game but could make a big difference in turning us into a competitive side in Women's football.  Our owners could comfortably afford to just "throw away" £5m.  Seems like a real opportunity - I assume there's some sort of restriction on this happening?

I thought Women’s Investment was in the allowable deductions for FFP/PSR - but I don’t think it’s as easy as chucking X million at it, there has got to be a conservative effort not to balloon the fees etc in the women’s game (although feel it’s close to the first 1m transfer).  We have proven we can recruit (DvD was a coup) or at least be competitive when recruiting - I just don’t know how big the pool is we are looking at.

 I get the feeling we don’t have the people concentrating on it - we know what we have with the men’s team, we need that in replication for the women’s. Maybe the seemingly move to more agents (or atleast outwardly being reported) will see this improve. I think this is what Carla was noting in the we need help from everywhere statements.

A big team like one of the big 6 is a relatively easy sell for any player - we have to work a little harder at it.

Hopefully we get this right, maybe we just didn’t think it would all progress as quickly as it has, the standard of WSL has grown massively.  Big summer ahead, back Carla with not only money but back ground staff.

oh and agree - let’s start getting the youngsters some minutes, a goal for mullet would do her the world of good.

[useless]

Whether they're from Japan or elsewhere we're going to need one or two attacking midfielders/playmakers in the summer, with Blindkilde gone and Nobbs coming to the end of her contract, even with them we've looked short in that area whenever Dali has been unavailable, and that's allowing that Dali hasn't been at her best this season

I can't see it now, but part of Marisa Ewer's job descriptio on linkedin said something along the lines of 'developing links with leagues and clubs across the world for recruitment purposes', I think that was newly added about a year back when she was first promoted into the role, so maybe it's something the club have been working on behind the scenes

[beachboys1]

On 11/03/2024 at 17:57, Ceemo said:

That's her gone in the summer.

obviously never comitted used us to get a bigger stage in her eyes

[useless]

Our academy is taking part in the Madrid Cup again this year, I think it starts later this month, they did pretty well last year, beat Atlético Madrid, got to the semi-final and lost by just one goal to eventual winners Barcelona. Barcelona, Real Madrid, Atlético Madrid, Madrid CFF, ADO Den Haag, Stabaek IF, FC Nordsjaelland, Rasunda IS, and SK Brann are the other teams taking part.

Edited March 14 by useless

[wishywashy]